On March 18 the RA National Assembly passed the draft RA Law "On Freedom of Information" in the second hearing. As it has been reported, in the first hearing the document was passed in October last year (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, October 19-25, 2002). Experts of Yerevan Press Club, Center of Freedom of Information of Association of Investigative Journalists, the Civil Society Development Union, Internews Armenia took part in the further revision of the draft. The experts jointly with the members of two Parliament Committees considered all the suggestions received.
The majority of the 62 proposals submitted both by these organizations and the RA Government were approved at the session of March 18.
Experts believe the draft is a quite advanced document and can ensure the realization of the right to information. In the draft, a number of deficiencies present in the first hearing were eliminated. Thus, non-governmental organizations as a regulation object for the law are removed from the draft. Instead the concept of "organizations of public significance" is introduced, which are defined as "non-state organizations, having a monopolistic or dominating position on the commodity market, as well as those supplying services in the sphere of health care, sports, education, culture, social, transportation and communications, utilities". These organizations are to provide information (other than that constituting commercial secret) by the same procedure that budget institutions, state structures and local self-administration bodies do.
In items 3, 4 of Article 7 the data subject to mandatory and periodical publication are listed. They also specify that the changes in these data are to be published within 10 days. Since preparatory work is needed for the realization of these items, they will be enacted since January 1, 2004.
In the draft passed in the second hearing the grounds for refusal to provide information are presented more distinctly and the cases when the information cannot be refused are listed. The terms for the oral information query and response to it are also stipulated. The answer to the written query is provided within five days. In some cases charges for the information provision are defined, which, however, cannot exceed the expenses associated with the information provision. No fees can be charged if the volume of information provided does not exceed 10 typewritten pages or if it is sent via e-mail. The draft also defines the concept of "entity responsible for ensuring the freedom of information".
